Vote down the Exeter budget

Friday

Mar 7, 2014 at 2:00 AM

The News-Letter was on target with the recent editorial noting that the town does not require a permanent economic development director at this time. The town manager, in his recent News-Letter interview, supported the editorial via his responses. His responses failed to demonstrate that the town has an economic development plan that would justify hiring a full-time economic director at a continuing cost of $100,000 plus per year.

To the Editor:

The News-Letter was on target with the recent editorial noting that the town does not require a permanent economic development director at this time. The town manager, in his recent News-Letter interview, supported the editorial via his responses. His responses failed to demonstrate that the town has an economic development plan that would justify hiring a full-time economic director at a continuing cost of $100,000 plus per year.

The reasonable approach would be to hire a contractor, create an economic development plan and determine if hiring a permanent economic development director is justifiable. During the deliberative session, the town manager stated the IRS would not allow the town to hire a contractor.

However, only two weeks later, in a News-Letter article, he was quoted as saying the use of a contractor would most likely be the approach to replace the departing assessor. What a change in position regarding the use of contractors, it appears they aren't allowed when their use would not support your goals. The town is not in a position to fund a permanent, economic development director position. There is more than enough money in the default budget to run the town in 2014.

My recommendation — Vote no on Article 10, live within the default budget and create an economic development plan. Then determine if the plan justifies the hiring of a permanent employee.

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